The Burrow

It's the verbiage that gets me.  Coupled with the bad grammar, it's another indication of how this President has let the country devolve into stupidity and chaos. The Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) premium amount for 2020 wasn't available in time to include with this bill .  You're being billed the current 2019 premium rate for January 2020.  Your next bill will reflect the new rate for 2020 and any difference in the amount due for January 2020. That was printed at the top of the insert in the billing envelope.  If there were ever a sign that the world has gone to hell in a hand-basket, that's it.  How that is possible is beyond me.  There are government employees who are supposed to be on top of this issue.   Recognizing that, I called my Congresswoman.  The lovely young man who answered the phone thought he might be able to help me with a Medicare question, but, alas, he did not have a ready answer at the tip of his fingers....

If I could pay one lump sum and then get all the tests my doctors think I need, I would be a happy girl. Unfortunately, that is not the case.  TBG and I have Medicare, because we are old, and an AARP supplement plan because we understand that Medicare doesn't cover everything.  But, really - calling a PSA Screening Not a Medically Necessary Service  seems somewhat ridiculous.  Just ask Fast Eddie, whose life was saved by a biopsy when his PSA raced to 9 between checks.  And how about my final Pelvic/Breast Exam?  Apparently this is also Not a Medically Necessary Service.  Neither the scheduler nor the billing officer at the practice told me that Medicare didn't think I needed to see my retiring gynecologist once I turned 65.  The amounts are not huge; after the Adjust Medicare  reduction the two total just under $60.  But that's not the point.  Screenings save lives, or so I've been led to believe over the course of 67 years...

I received my Medicare billing update yesterday.  I've already met my annual deductible of $183, although I don't remember receiving any bills totally that amount.  I saw all my doctors in January and early February; since I got shot I've made a point of checking myself out at the start of each new year.  I saw the GP and the gynecologist and the dermatologist and the eye doctor.  I had a mammogram and argued about the necessity of doing a DEXA bone scan (I won and didn't do it.) I also had a colonoscopy.  That was the subject of the Medicare billing statement.  The anesthesia cost $3,657.01 (don't you love that penny at the end?)  The actual injection cost $100.  My stay in the recovery room cost $1,711.23.  There were no doctor bills associated with this claim; I wonder if he did the test for free. According to the billing statement, I owe nothing. But, reading further I found that Medicare paid nothing either, although the Medicare-A...

I was wrong.  I didn't pay attention to the paperwork.  I made a mistake.  I'm happy to admit it.  I just wish someone had brought it to my attention in a less distasteful fashion. BlueCross/BlueShield/Arizona raised our premiums by about 11%.  I received a letter notifying me of the change last Fall. I was stunned by the amount and the rate and I never got further down the page. The date at which the change became effective eluded me.  I assumed they were telling me in October to give me a chance to examine my other options under the ACA before the price went up in my birthday month, February.  I would turn 62 then; I assumed that was a magic number for my insurer. Nothing else could justify such an egregious increase in monthly premiums. I groused and I investigated but it seems that this is what it costs to insure two relatively healthy older adults in Tucson these days.  In February, I edited the automatic payment function at C...

The problem with organizers is that their skill set is limited.  They can rally the troops to take action, energize the un-involved, get the message out, and make a lot of noise along the way.  They drop in, work on a problem, then move on to the next unsolved issue.  They don't stay in one place and try to make things work. Unfortunately, governing requires fortitude for the long fight.  It demands that you revisit the same issues, ironing out the kinks while retaining support.  That takes focus. It's playing the long game. It's selling and reselling and then doing it again, proving to the skeptics that you were right then and you are right now.  It's less exciting, perhaps, than a glossy new challenge might be, but that really doesn't matter. I think this is the problem with President Obama's absence from the health care debate these days. He's not sure what to do. He can complain that the fight is personal rather than issue-driven, but that doesn...

Can I opt out, too? As I understand it, the Conservative objection to ObamaCare centers around the mandate.  Extending benefits to millions more by requiring the states to expand their definition of need seems to be an easier proposition for the Justices to examine dispassionately.  Telling me what to do has a stickier presence. I get it.  I really do.  the Pilgrims came to our shores because they were peeved - the government was telling them how to live their lives and they wouldn't take it any more. Of course, they got to our shores and began expelling people from their colony when beliefs clashed.  Even in elementary school I was bothered by the hypocrisy of it.  Fleeing your homeland because you couldn't pray the way you chose was a stand-alone good reason.  Sailing across the pond and doing the same thing to others always struck me as the height of hypocrisy.  Didn't they get it?  Were the Pilgrims just looking for a spot of land...

I used to like opening the mail. A letter, a postcard, a sale announcement and the local weekly newspaper accompanying a bill or two, all placed in the mailbox just to the left of the front door, underneath the house numbers. The mailman was a friendly and familiar face. He shared lemonade and iced tea and once I even got to have ginger ale before lunch because he would share it with me. Now, sometimes I get my mail and sometimes I don't because it's mixed up with my neighbors' deliveries. And when it does arrive, it's advertisements for stores I've never heard of and solicitations and bills. And it's the bills I want to talk about. Actually, it's one bill in particular. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Arizona has raised our premium 9.2%. I just had TBG show me how to figure it out on the calculator (my miserable math skills will make for a very interesting post someday) and it's true. We were healthier last year than we'd been the year before. In fact, th...

Personal responsibility is an issue near and dear to my heart. Hearing President Obama urge Americans to take charge of their health made me smile; it was so parental and so true. " No, you'll spoil your appetite" No, you can't have THAT for dinner" "Yes, carrots are a healthy snack" "Didn't the doctor explain that ice cream gives you a tummy ache because you're allergic to milk?" Parenting thrusts ordinary humans into the roles of nutritionist and pharmacist and ER nurse, and does it all without training or support. Sure, you can look on WebMD (what I would've given for that when the Little Cuter's 2 month old body was covered with the world's most awful rash!) and read the labels and use your brain, but most of it comes from experience. And if your experience has been watching your parents shove Big Macs into their faces while driving 2 blocks to the grocery store for chips and soda then that's what you're go...

I'm on terminal hold. "Your wait for the next available representative will be at least 15 minutes", the computer voice told me. I suppose I shouldn't have gotten so exited when the receptionist took my call after only 4 minutes on hold; I'd waited 17 minutes for her earlier this morning. Now, if the girl telling me that she appreciates my business and that I should hold for the next available representative would just stop annoying me, I could get on with my posting without interruptions. But, not, not only do I have inoffensive guitars setting my teeth on edge as I wait, but just as I start to get going on this post I hear her voice and, for an instant, I start to smile and think I'll actually be talking to a human. Then I have to listen to her repeat her 3 sentences. And I am distracted. If this post reads less fluidly than most, blame being on hold. I used to get to my office 2 hours before my official start time, just to get my work done. Being a...

Don't facts matter anymore? Representative Michelle Bachman opens her mouth and out comes drivel. Now, who exactly was President of the United States in 1976, ma'am? Did anyone ever teach you the difference between correlation and causation? And you are making laws for us, poor citizens that we are. Your health insurance might cost $500 per month. But that's not really a fact, because you have deductibles and co-pays and out-of-pocket-maximums and excluded procedures and a few other small print items. Get hit by a bus, no worries. But have routine medical issues normally associated with life in the retired lane? Keep that Visa card handy; you'll need it. Some things that used to be facts now are faux-facts . Take a carton of ice cream, for example. I'm serious; take the carton in your hand next time you're in the grocery store. Does it feel different somehow? It should - it's lighter than it used to be. Chips, cookies, and crackers are just some...